Missiles have fins to provide directional control and aerodynamic stability during flight. Prior to missile use, the fins are typically folded in a stored position about the missile body to conserve storage space and to minimize handling and launching problems. The fins are rotated from the stored to a deployed position either prior to the placement of a missile on a launching device, after the missile is fired from a launching tube, or after the missile is dropped from an aircraft and reaches a given altitude or a predetermined time passes. It is particularly important that the fins be deployed quickly without damaging vehicle components and remain in the deployed position to provide stable flight characteristics to the missile.
Prior art deployment devices generally rely on spring or pneumatic pressure, the force of the missile exhaust, or the rotational force of the fired missile to deploy the fins. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,125,956 to Kongelbeck entitled "Foldable Fin"; 3,697,019 to Watson entitled "Stablizing Fin Assembly"; 3,853,288 to Bode entitled "Encasement for the Tail Section of a Rocket with a Central Nozzle and Extendible Control Vanes"; 4,143,838 to Holladay entitled "Folding Fin Assembly Detent"; 4,175,720 to Craig entitled "Retainer/Release Mechanism for Use on Fin Stabilized Gun Fired Projectiles"; 4,296,895 to Pazmany entitled "Fin Erection Mechanism"; 4,358,983 to Fallon et al., entitled "Blast Enabled Missile Detent/Release Mechanism"; 4,509,427 to Andreoli entitled "Tail Fin Firing Device"; and, 4,510,846 to Gazzera entitled "Pneumatic Actuator Device" are representative of typical fin deployment mechanisms.
Other techniques for deploying the fins of a missile are sought, and it is to this end that the present invention is directed.